Thiruvananthapuram/New Delhi: Union Minister for Environment and Forests Bhupendra Yadav informed the Rajya Sabha on Thursday that an estimated 344 people lost their lives in incidents of human-wildlife conflict across Kerala between 2021 and 2025.

While responding to supplementaries during question hour, he said 180 deaths were due to snake bites, 103 from elephants and 35 due to wild pigs. Besides, four deaths were attributed to tigers. "We have to maintain a balance between the protection of human life and the environment," Yadav said.

"We are trying to develop the SACON (Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History) in Coimbatore centre as a scientific centre on the man-animal conflict. We are also identifying elephant corridors, doing elephant estimation, and creating local awareness. We are also working with the Railways to identify their elephant routes," Yadav added.

Additionally, he said there are 58 tiger reserve areas, reported PTI.

Yadav said the Centre had informed the state government that village panchayats have been given powers to kill wild boars and put an end to the menace in affected areas. He cited cases of panchayats in Palakkad killing wild boars.

The minister said MPs from the state had met him, following which he visited Wayanad in February to understand the human-animal conflict in the area.